Ventura County bomb squad responsible for defusing many devices each year

Unit leader cites effect of 9/11 terrorist attacks

A bomb found last week in a Ventura driveway was one of scores of potential explosives encountered by the Ventura County Sheriff's Office bomb squad.

In 2010, the squad was called to 82 bomb-related incidents, according to Sgt. Bob Garcia of the sheriff's team. From January through September of this year, Garcia said, the bomb squad saw 58 such incidents, putting it on a pace slightly behind last year's.

But the squad is busier than it was before the 9/11 attacks, said its chief, Paul Higgason.

Higgason said the increased discovery of explosives could be the result of the public's greater awareness of suspicious objects since the terrorism incidents. Another reason could be that there are more bombs, with instructions easily available online.

"There's a lot of open-source information about these things that are readily available out there," Higgason said.

"We've certainly seen an increase in these devices since 9/11," he added.

Queries for bomb-making instructions and terrorism activities are the second-most-popular search on the Web, Higgason said.

The Ventura bomb could have been the result of such a search. Authorities said it was simple, being fashioned from a highlighter, low-explosive gunpowder and a fuse. It was found Oct. 25 in a driveway in the 100 block of East Ramona Street.

The bomb squad inspects objects from suspicious packages, military ordnance — live and inert — and improvised devices such as pipe bombs, acid bombs and hoax devices, Garcia said.

"I have personally recovered live hand grenades (and) artillery and tank rounds" that belonged to veterans who have died, Garcia said.

Higgason has been on the bomb squad for 26 years, a job he landed after working in demolitions for the Army during the 1970s.

The science has come a long way since he started.

One big advance was the bomb robot. Higgason's team got its first one in 1994. Rather than send in a person when an explosive is found, the team now will likely send in a robot. It places the bomb in a secure container, which is taken to a location to render the bomb inert.

That's what the team did on Ramona Street.

"The bomb squad has all of the tools needed to handle these devices," Garcia said. "We have bomb suits, robots, containment vessels, portable X-ray machines" and other equipment designed to handle explosives, he said.

As far as recognizing a bomb, "Military ordnance is easily identified," Garcia said.

Average residents might have a harder time recognizing improvised devices, Garcia said.

When they are found, people might accidentally handle them instead of calling authorities.

Garcia knows of cases in which people have taken live pipe bombs and grenades to a police or fire station, not realizing the danger in which they were putting themselves and others.

"If anyone comes across any suspicious devices or any type of explosive, it is best to leave it alone and notify local law enforcement," he said.

Some bomb makers have injured themselves in Ventura County, but no one on Higgason's crew has been hurt, he said.

Higgason said his team tries to avoid exploding a bomb, if possible, to help authorities gather evidence on the bomb maker.

Finding those who assembled a bomb can be difficult, he said.

"It's especially difficult if people don't talk," he added.

No arrests have been made in connection with the Ramona Street bomb.

As to why anyone would make such a device, Higgason said the reason often is simple curiosity.

But he said those who make bombs face federal charges related to the manufacture and placement of explosive devices, which are felonies.